Do You Shake Hands When You’re Sick?

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Today’s poll is inspired by reader V’s question:

I work in Big Law and throughout the recruiting season, I shake a lot of hands. Now and then I encounter someone who says, I’m sorry, I don’t shake your hand I’m sick. While I respect that and appreciate that it’s considerate, frankly I find the little spiel about “not shaking your hand because I’m sick” a bit off putting and it sure as hell makes for awkward introductions.

Interesting… I’ve always thought it’s common courtesy to *not* shake someone’s hand if you know you’re sick. The only caveat I can think of is one outside the recruiting context — where, say, you’re sick and in a situation where you’re the most junior person in the room — and your boss barks out to the VIP some half-introduction and you’re expected to dive forward, shake VIP’s hand (with a firm, competent handshake!), and then recede back into the shadows to do all the work. In that situation, it would break the flow of the half-second transaction for the sickee to inform the VIP and boss that s/he is sick, and really, at that point they deserve whatever they catch from you.* (Pictured: Shaking Hands, originally uploaded to Flickr by Aidan Jones.)

But, like I said, that is usually not what happens in the recruiting context. I agree, being on the receiving end can be a little awkward — but I usually just say “oh, thank you! feel better” and move on with the conversation. If I really feel the need to make some sort of movement (because I’ve held my hand out too enthusiastically or whatever) I might do a slight bow, perhaps with both hands pressed together in front. But that’s just my $.02 — let’s hear from the readers. First, we’ll take a poll from the sickee side of things:

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How have you guys handled the situation from the other side of things?

* Apologies in advance if this attempt at humor has gone awry: I’m having an off day.

Comments

I would wash my hands vigorously before hand, and then shake hands as usual. If I had to blow my nose, or cough into my hand, I would then go wash my hands, and again continue shaking hands as usual. Or, if I were really that sick, I’d skip the function.

How about just don’t go? If you’re sick, why share the germs and put yourself through it…if you *have* to go, make an appearance and just.don’t.shake.hands – bow, do whatever, but don’t share the germs, which handshaking most assuredly will do, no matter how much purell is in circulation!

not meant to be ‘beyootchy’, just a survivor of a multiperson, multikid household that went thru months of H1N1 last year and hopes not to do it again this year :).

I was in a meeting last year with a consultant we had flown in and she said she was only doing fist bumps, no hand shakes. Everyone laughed at the time, but I thought it was odd to fist bump in a professional setting. That said, I’d rather fist bump that get H1N1 which was her reason for not shaking hands (she didn’t have H1N1 but was being cautious).

Oh, and I would shake hands but wash them vigorously before the event and carry my pocket hand sanitizer spray to use every few interactions. If I was really sick (H1N1 or really bad flu) I would skip the event.

I am in the middle of this right now. Being sick at work (at least in biglaw) is unwinnable. Every time I cough, I get filthy looks from colleagues for bringing my germs to work (I did stay home for several days in the beginning “contagious” phase, which is probably just a myth…). Yet I can assure you that the very same glarers would be throwing a fit if I actually did try to work from home until I fully recovered.

On the handshake, I have spent this recruiting season scrubbing my hands before I go to meet an interview candidate and then being very careful not to touch my face/only cough into my elbow until we do the farewell-shake. It’s awkward as can be, but it’s the best thing I’ve come up with. I figure that anyone particularly offended by this will be washing their hands afterward anyways.

Ugh, I have so been there. Last winter, my (blessedly former) biglaw firm sent around a very strongly worded email about how you should not come to work if you have a fever. But then if you dared to actually stay home from work sick, they went out of their way to torture you with calls and emails requiring immediate responses, followed by follow-up emails 3 minutes later re: why you hadn’t responded to the previous email yet. Moral of the story: associates should not get fevers.

Oh, I hear you here. We have sick days “at manager discretion” which is awesome, except that they didn’t tell me until the end of the year that they felt I’d had “extensive absences” (it happens when your gallbladder fails, you get the flu, viral bronchitis, and exposed to H1N1 with a mandatory 3 day absence all in one year!). So this year, I’ve been really being careful, and have only been sick once, but I came back with sniffles and got a ton of hissing and spitting about it. It’s ridiculous!

At Comicon they started doing the Iron Guard salute instead of handshakes.

I always beg off handshakes, and even stand further away in a room from people, if I’m sick. And frankly, I’ve never felt it awkward. It takes a little bit of aggressive intervention to break up the standard routine, but I think it actually helps build rapport and trust.

Personally, I would appreciate someone NOT shaking my hand if they were sick! I have three small kids, and the last thing I need is some awful-ness being brought home! I do think the example above with the consultant not shaking hands when nobody was sick a bit extreme and strange. But again, if you are obviously sporting a cold, I do not want to shake your hand!

Yep. I’m a 3L, and we have a very strongly worded policy at my school. If you are sick, think you are sick, or might be sick, then you stay home, period. No one else wants to suffer because you decided to brave class for the day and spread around your germs.

Luckily, there’s a standing policy that if you are out for any sickness related reason, you can get a copy of the lecture from the professor that day, with no hassle at all. It completely takes away the incentive of coming into class if you are actually sick, and means for a healthier student body.

Easier in the law school context than the law firm context. No one suffers but you if you don’t show for class. Often, if you don’t show for the meeting/document review session/etc, someone else has to pick up your work. I get that it’s a bad idea generally, but still come to work sick with some regularity.

Yeah, at my law school most classes were podcast or you could make a day-of request to podcast the class, so staying home sick was no big deal, you could just watch the lecture later. We even have a parents room where you can stay with your kids and watch the class as it happens. Not real life applicable so much, but it was great in that context.

From a devoted reader and regular commenter/member of this community – now that I am firewalled during the day, I totally do not want to scroll through ridiculous *ridiculous* snarkfests that can be had at all hours on some other site…do it somewhere else and leave the Corporette sisterhood out of your nonsense. We don’t have time for it. Sorry!

Even if I’m not sick and I sneeze, I apologize and explain that I just sneezed. I usually say something like “Oh I’m sorry I can’t shake your hand. I just sneezed and I don’t want to give you my germs.”

First, it’s not a terrible thing for someone to not want to get their neighbors sick – although I agree with earlier posters that if you were really contagious, you should probably stay home if possible!

Second, you may not know the whole reason for their refusal to shake hands. I have had friends/ acquaintances that have been very ill (e.g. cancer or other equally serious disease) where their immune systems were compromised making them very vulnerable. They would not shake hands or do any unnecessary touching. I can definitely see someone in a similar situation who is not visibly ill perhaps phrasing their refusal to shake hands in a such manner that does not require them to explain a very personal condition.

I have never encountered anyone doing this. My initial reaction is that if I went to shake someone’s hand and they refused, saying they were sick, my interaction with them would be fully tainted with “eww, this person is sick. Sick sick sick. All I can see is germs.”

If I have to shake hands with a bunch of people, I go wash my hands later and don’t touch my face in the meantime. It’s kind of like holding the bar on the subway – a necessary evil that requires handwashing later.

Longtime lurker and new poster here! As someone who keeps hand sanitizer always at the ready, I decline handshakes when sick, saying “I’m a bit under the weather and wouldn’t want to get you sick” with a smile. I would certainly appreciate if others provided the same courtesy.

I went to a graduation last year where the dean announced there would be no shaking of hands with diplomas due to the risk of H1N1 transmission.

I know at least a few here are doctors, so maybe they can speak to exactly how the flu is transmitted and how to reduce your risk. I thought it was transmitted via respitory secretions that you then inhale or rub into your eyes. I would think washing hands, avoiding touching your face, sneezing into your elbow, etc would be a good way to avoid transmitting anything – even if one of the handshakers is sick.

I personally try to avoid going out when I am sick (yes, not always possible) and wash my hands like crazy. I would probably still shake hands feeling confident they were clean and not wanting to confuse the situation with a hand shake refusal.

I try to wash my hands like crazy after shaking hands anyway. It may or may not prevent sickness but it makes me feel better!

The Dean refused handshaking at the ceremony because of the “risk” of transmission?? Now that’s just silly. If he or someone at the ceremony had H1N1, then they shouldn’t be there. At my law school graduation, they had someone walking down the line of graduates waiting to go on stage squirting sanitizer into each person’s hands.

I was in a meeting about two weeks ago with people I hadn’t seen in months and new people (so lots of handshaking all around) but I didn’t shake anyone’s hands, letting them know I was sick. They weren’t expecting me to say it but there was no awkwardness. In retrospect, I’m very happy I didn’t, because I, unfortunately, got two of my coworkers sick (shared paperwork).

On handshake substitutes: I once offered a new acquaintance my hand, only to have him clasp my upper arm, great me warmly, and then apologize for not shaking my hand on account of illness. I was thrown at first, but the more I think about it, the more I like it. It introduced physical contact without spreading germs or being in any way inappropriate.

I generally find the immediate use of hand sanitizer or the refusal to shake hands on medical or even religious grounds to be off-putting, even though I know the person is being courteous and not trying to offend. The ritual of the handshake is so ingrained that any refusal feels as though we were all in junior high again and I’ve been deemed socially toxic. Irrational and silly, but there it is.

Stay home if you’re really sick and otherwise wash hands frequently and use hand sanitizer. In a work setting, informing others that you’re ill creates the impression that you’re not in top form; never a comforting thing for the client you are about to represent in court, the witness whose deposition you’re about to defend, or frankly any client who is paying a high hourly rate for your services. In a social/networking setting, it raises the question why you are there in the first place.

I try to wash my hands often and all that, and if I was really sick I would stay home. BUT we have all gotten waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too germaphobic, IMO. All that purell is only making people more sick, allergic, etc., b/c our immune systems are just not as well equipped to fight off minor harmless toxins as they used to be. Medical studies in this area all support the notion that a little bit of germs is not just okay, but actually good for you. Obviously, colds & flu are different, but reading the above (fistbump lady, e.g.,), it seems like some of the germaphobia has gotten way out of control. I have several doctors and nurses in my family and they never get sick, work with sick people all day, shake hands with their patients & others in the hospital, all while much better immune systems then most — they just wash they’re hands as needed and don’t worry too much about the rest.

Agreed, the only time I declined to shake hands was when I came down with an eye infection while I was on a recruiting trip. I wasn’t sick but the doctor said there was a risk of passing it by hand shaking so I gave a quick explanation and made an attempt to joke about it to avoid the awkwardness of the student with his/her hand extended. Not a big deal. But without the doctor’s specific instruction I would probably have just washed my hands a lot and with the usual cold or whatever, if I’m well enough to be out, I’m well enough to shake hands.

I couldn’t agree more. What really annoys me is that people think Purell is some sort of miracle potion, when in fact most hand sanitizers aren’t as effective against some bacteria as plain old soap and water (or even just plain water). My dad is a doctor and rarely gets sick. When he was younger, I don’t remember him getting sick at all some years.

I do agree with those who say that it’s sometimes inevitable that you’ll have to go to work while sick. I worked at one place around 10 years ago that gave 3 sick days a year and 3 personal days (which I don’t think could be used for doctor’s appointments). If you got sick, you pretty much had no choice but to stay there miserable for days on end. It amazes me that any company would think that amount of sick time could help productivity.

Exactly! Not to mention that you’re killing good bacteria too. Also, the alcohol actually allows for greater absorption of other chemicasl. For example, it’s recently been reported that most receipts have bpa on them (not a big deal for most consumer, but perhaps problematic for people handing them out all day). Put one of those alchol-based “germ killers” on your hands and that bpa gets into your system much more easily. Just wash your hands and take care of yourself–for the most part, your immune system can handle the rest.

Well – if its just sneezing, you can observe proper sneezing procedure.* Tissue still runs the risk of contaminating your hands (sneezing thru it) and hankies just become a mass of germs as they get reused.

Just a thought.

*sneezing into your shoulder or the crook of your elbow – avoids contaminating the hands or propelling the germs into the air and allows the germs to dry out on your clothes and become un-germy

To be honest, I feel kind of gross when someone won’t shake my hand because they’re sick — uncomfortably conscious of the presence of germs, unsure just how sick we’re talking, and wondering: if they are too sick and germ-covered to shake my hand, aren’t they also too sick and germ-covered to sit next to me, pass me a piece of paper, hand me a bottle of water?